Pronunciation: Yi Gang (pronunciation: Yee Gahng)
Chinese: 易纲
Title: CCP Central Committee Alternate Member; Deputy Party Secretary, People’s Bank of China Party Committee; Governor, People’s Bank of China
Salutation: Governor Yi
In March 2018, China named Yi Gang governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), following his predecessor Zhou Xiaochuan’s 15-year tenure. He was most recently a vice governor of PBOC and director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), positions he held since 2007 and 2009, respectively.
Yi was born in 1958, and comes from an academic background with experience studying and teaching abroad. After receiving a doctorate in economics from the University of Illinois, he taught at the University of Indiana from 1986 to 1994. Yi returned to China to teach economics and serve as deputy director of the Center for Economic Research at Peking University from 1994 to 1997. Yi began his work at PBOC in 1997, holding a variety of monetary policy-related positions before becoming vice governor in 2007 and director of SAFE in 2009.
Yi’s appointment as governor of PBOC is a signal of stability, because he worked under his predecessor Zhou for a decade and in recent years ran the day-to-day operations of the central bank. However, with the appointment of Guo Shuqing as PBOC party secretary, Yi will likely be in charge of implementation rather than policy direction and strategy.